1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data output apparatus, a data output system, and a data output control method and specifically relates to a data output apparatus, a data output system, and a data output control method which prevent leakage of personal information and utilize a waiting time for data output effectively.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an image forming apparatus such as a printer apparatus, a copying apparatus, or a composite apparatus, when copy processing or print processing is performed, there is a case where a user waits for completion of printing in front of the image forming apparatus to prevent leakage of confidential information due to a printed material being taken away.
Also, recently, the image forming apparatus is connected to a network and performs print output, on paper, of data received from a host apparatus such as a computer through the network.
An image forming apparatus connected to such a network generally includes an image accumulation memory such as a hard disk and performs print output after temporarily accumulating received data into the image accumulation memory. Then, in respect to data which requires confidentiality (hereinafter, arbitrarily referred to as confidential data), conventionally, the image forming apparatus adds, as user identification information, a user ID, a PIN code, or the like to the confidential data and accumulates the confidential data into the image accumulation memory of the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus requests input of the user identification information in respect to print output of the confidential data. When input user identification information matches the user identification information added to the confidential data or matches user identification information of a registered user registered as a user in the image forming apparatus in advance, the image forming apparatus performs print output of the confidential data.
Then, as described above, when print output of the confidential data is performed in the image forming apparatus, a user needs to wait for completion of the print output in front of the image forming apparatus and has to waste a waiting time.
Then, conventionally, an image forming apparatus including: a data transmission/reception unit configured to receive display data associated with either or both of user information and image data to be printed; a storage unit configured to store received display data while associating the received display data with the user information or the image data; an input unit configured to input a print request and user information; a display unit configured to display the display data; and a control unit configured to read, when printing image data to be printed according to the input print request, display data associated with the printed image data, or display data associated with the input user information from the storage unit and to display the read display data on the display unit has been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2011-28437).
That is, the related technology tries to utilize effectively a waiting time by displaying, on the display unit, display data related to image data being currently printed or a user during the printing.